Byzantine Battles: Raid of the Rus

▶

4 th century

▶

5 th century

▶

6 th century

▶

7 th century

▶

8 th century

▶

9 th century

▶

10 th century

▶

11 th century

▶

12 th century

▶

13 th century

▶

14 th century

▶

15 th century

Raid of the Rus	year: 860 summer of 860
The Rus pillaged the suburbs of Constantinople and withdrew after a storm	★ ★ ★ ★ ★

enemy: Rus	location: Constantinople	accuracy: ●●●●●
battle type: Raid	war: Byzantine-Rus Wars	modern country: Turkey

	▼ The Byzantines(emperor: Michael III the Drunkard)	▼ The Enemies
Commander:	Patriarch Photius	Askold and Dir
Forces:	Unknown	200 boats, 5,000 men
Losses:

Background story:

The Rus, a people of Scandinavian origin, appeared in history in the 9th century. According to the Frankish chronicle Annals of St. Bertin, two Norsemen, who called themselves Rhos participated in a Byzantine mission to the court of Louis I Pius in 838.
In 860, at the time of the Rus attack, Emperor Michael III was absent from the Constantinople, as was his navy that was occupied fighting the Saracens in the Aegean Sea. The Imperial army (including those troops that were normally garrisoned around the capital) was fighting the Arabs in Asia Minor. These circumstances had left the coasts and islands of Black Sea, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara unprotected.
The exceptional timing of the attack suggests the Rus had been informed of the city's weakness, which means that the lines of trade and communication were already open.
For the Byzantines, the attack was a complete surprise.

The Battle:

Ships of the Rus

On June 18, 860, at sunset, a fleet of about 200 Rus vessels sailed into the Bosporus. This "fleet" would have consisted of small ships, basically a hybrid between a dugout canoe and the familiar clinker-built Viking ship.
The Rus started pillaging the suburbs of Constantinople. The attackers were setting homes on fire, drowning and stabbing the residents. Unable to do anything to repel the invaders, Patriarch Photius urged his flock to implore the Theotokos to save the city.
Having devastated the suburbs, the Rus passed into the Sea of Marmara and fell upon the Isles of the Princes, where the former Patriarch Ignatius of Constantinople was in exile at the time. The Rus plundered the dwellings and the monasteries, slaughtering the captives. They took twenty-two of the patriarch's servants aboard ship and cut them into pieces by axes.
Despite the Greeks being taken by surprise and the fact that Byzantium was inadequately defended, the Rus did not enter the City. According to the tradition, when Photius put the veil of the Theotokos into the sea, there arose a tempest which dispersed the boats of the barbarians. The fact is that after 4th August, the Rus left and returned home without claiming victory, probably because they lost their booty in the storm.

Noteworthy:

Strangely, the story of the miraculous saving of Constantinople from the barbarian hordes may have contributed to the popularity of the Theotokos in Russia. It might also have played a role in the Christianization of the Rus.

Aftermath:

The failed Rus captains Askold and Dir were put to death by Oleg, the Rus ruler of Novgorod (although this might have happened at a later raid). The Rus repeated their attacks with similar raids to Constantinople at least 6 times, most notably in 907, in 941 and in 1043.